Patricia O’Hara, Chair National Statistics Board and Member European Statistical Governance Advisory Board (ESGAB)

 NSB and ISS  Trust and Quality  ESS CoP and ESGAB  Implementing the ISS CoP 20/11/2013 2P O'Hara, NSB

 Statistics Act 1993 ◦ 8 members ◦ Department of Taoiseach  Guide strategic direction of CSO by ◦ Establishing priorities for the compilation and development of official statistics, ensuring that the necessary resources are available, arbitrating where necessary between CSO and other public authorities regarding extraction of statistics from records, or co-ordination of statistical activities. 20/11/2013 3P O'Hara, NSB

Strategy ISS as a ‘system’ – coordination needed  SPAR exercises, statisticians in Departments, StatCentral portal Strategy Issues of practice, capacity building  Memos of Understanding  Administrative Data Centre  Collaboration e.g. CSO & CBFSAI But barriers to progress remain - NSB papers  Data restrictions, Quality, Unique Identifiers NSB urged Strategic Initiative from Government to create National Data Infrastructure (NDI) 20/11/2013 4P O'Hara, NSB

 Public Sector Reform - DPER lead role in promoting data sharing  Data Sharing and Governance Bill  Postcode System  Public authorities need to commit  CSO responsible for statistical standards, so ISS CoP vital to fully professionalise ISS 20/11/2013 5P O'Hara, NSB

 Trust in official statistics key to democracy  Irish citizens’ trust - in institutions, government and media has plummeted since the crash  But good level of trust in official statistics in Ireland  Trust major problem in UK 20/11/2013 6P O'Hara, NSB

1. CoP only works if understood, applied and enforced – ongoing assessment essential 2. Engage citizens to maintain public confidence 3. Separate oversight, scrutiny and assessment from production and delivery 4. Labelling and assessment of ‘official statistics’ is difficult in practice 5. Need for data sharing culture in Departments 20/11/2013 7P O'Hara, NSB

 ES CoP 15 Principles; ESGAB overview of ESS and Eurostat  Annual Report to Euro Parliament & Council 7 members  5 ARs to date – 44 Recommendations  KEY ISSUES - professional independence, governance, coordination, resources 20/11/2013 8P O'Hara, NSB

1. Politicisation – professional independence 2. Designation – leadership, liaison, vigilance 3. Monitoring Compliance – self assessment, peer reviews, role for NSB? 4. Legislative Review of Statistics Act Engagement with users and general public 20/11/2013 9P O'Hara, NSB

Statistics are above the public debate in that they must be seen to be produced impartially, free from political interference and commanding trust. Statistics are below the public debate in that they underpin decision-making, policy development and good public administration. In a nutshell, the challenge... is: get them right, get them trusted and get them used. (Tim Holt, Thirtieth Geary Lecture 1999) 20/11/2013 P O'Hara, NSB10